Review: 1923

I did not need much coaxing. When I learned that a companion series to 1883 and Yellowstone was streaming, I put the offering on my watch list. When I discovered that the eight-episode production featured Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, I promptly subscribed to Paramount Plus.

I am glad that I did. I found 1923 as riveting as the other series and far more visually pleasing. Set primarily in western Montana, where I lived for fourteen years, it exceeded even my lofty expectations.

Though Ford and Mirren star as Jacob and Cara Dutton, the patriarch and matriarch of a dynastic ranching family, others also shine in stories that are tied in some way to the larger narrative. They include Spencer Dutton, the dashing WWI vet who escapes to Africa, and Jack Dutton Jr., the young buck who helps Jacob and Cara run the ranch. The nephews find love in the form of Alexandra, a British royal searching for adventure, and Liz Strafford, a feisty local looking to belong.

There are, of course, villains galore, starting with Banner Creighton, a Scottish sheepherder, and Donald Whitfield, a sadistic business tycoon played by Timothy Dalton of James Bond fame. Both men conspire to wrest the Yellowstone Ranch from the Duttons. Each employs violent and underhanded means to gain control of a lucrative valley.

Then there is Teonna Rainwater, the rebellious Native American girl who escapes a residential school run by cruel priests and nuns. As she fights for her freedom and dignity, she provides an unsettling but welcome perspective on the rough-and-tumble Montana of Prohibition.

Though the violence and sexual content in 1923 are sometimes over the top, the series never strays far from its main storyline or 1883, its celebrated television prequel. It offers first-rate acting, a compelling narrative, a glimpse of an interesting time period, and cinematography of Montana and East Africa that is worthy of an IMAX theater.

Season 1 of 1923 aired in 2022-23. Season two begins February 23 on Paramount Plus. I, for one, will be watching. Rating 5/5.